We left Friday morning to rent a car, then made our way out of the city, first visiting a giant 2,000 year old tree, then an even older archaeological site. Many thanks to H and A for driving and navigating, as we found plenty of closed roads, detours, and dirt 'highways' on our way to Hierve el Agua, a natural spring and local resort area. We had a really lovely evening swim in the mineral pool, then caught the last vendor for some quesadillas just before she closed up for the night. See that beautiful natural pool?
Yeah, I swam in that. We spent Friday night in a shady cabaña. 'Shady' as in 'probably not cleaned for two years,' not as in 'providing relief from the sun'. The place was deserted, so we just decided to ignore the grime and pretend that we were camping as we shared a few beers on the porch of the cabaña to celebrate A's birthday.
The next morning, we dodged dogs, donkeys, and children on our way out of Hierve el Agua and toward the Sierra Norte. We arrived in Cuajilmoloyas, a Zapotec village of about 1,000 people around midday, then set set off for a three hour "walk".
Walk, my ass. It started off nice and easy, with a stop to pet some goats, listening as our guide identified some medicinal plants.
Then our "walk" got serius. The trail got narrow, then steep, then disappeared completely. We scrambled up narrow paths to explore the coyote caves, and ultimately found ourselves on top of tall rocks overlooking the valley. Really breathtaking, and not just because I harbor a slight fear of heights. You´ll notice that I'm kind of slouching and holding on in this photo, trying to keep my center of gravity as low as possible. 
That evening was probably the highlight of the weekend for me. We went to one of the two or three "restaurants" in town, none of which actually have anything resembling a menu. You get whatever is cooking over the open flame at the other end of the room. You want a cerveza or something else to drink? No problem, they'll pop over to the store to buy it for you. I don't actually think they had a refrigerator. It felt much more like eating in someone's living room than anything else. In any case, it was delicious, and probably exactly what the nurse from the travel health clinic was warning me about.
I'm so grateful to H and A for inviting me along this past weekend. That trip outside the city was not something I would have done on my own (especially renting the car), and I'm so glad we were able to deal directly with the people of Cuajilmoloyas, rather than visit on a package tour arranged through a Oaxaca based travel agency. Most importantly, this trip gave me the confidence to show up, smile, and ask the locals for directions.
beautiful! Glad this trip worked so well. Really does make a difference to be off the tourist path.
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